Guy Clark Quotes

With 'Friday Night Lights,' we were encouraged to make it our own and improvise as much as we wanted.

I don't follow any system. All the laws you can lay down are only so many props to be cast aside when the hour of creation arrives.

We always have a take that's 'one for fun', so once you've got what you need, you can do what you like. Something does occasionally pop out of that tree. I'm always open to ideas.

Rules and models destroy genius and art.

I like to work spontaneously.

There's never any pressure on the music having to be something.

I just like being all over the place and writing whatever comes to mind. Having the tools? It's such a gift.

I play like I always used to, with no agenda. And, every once in a while, I will play something I really hadn't thought about or even intended to play. And I'll go, 'Whoa! What was that?'

If you come on a band tense, you're going to play tense. If you come a little bit foolish, act just a little bit foolish, and let yourself go, better ideas will come.

I'm of the belief that you pursue your interests, you pull it all in, and you sort it out later.

I actually found not having a routine was inspiration.

I never learned to cook, so I've got no rules. I'll put things together just because I think they belong together.

There are no rules when I compose songs.

You shouldn't strategize your career if you're in a creative realm. You can't either. I love the unknown. I love the element of surprise. I've always felt really inspired by it. I love the spontaneity of the job. I think you can't really fight against it.

To be able to play somebody that says and does pretty much whatever he wants is great.

I imagine that when I am creating a song or a project or an album or putting some clothing together or cooking a meal, whatever it is, I don't really have a recipe. The fun part is to throw that big piece of clay in the middle of the table as hard as I can, and whatever shape it takes, that's what shape it takes, and then I start to carve away.

There are no rules. Let the picture lead you where it must go.

Play is a necessary ingredient in art because there is a kind of wonder that goes on when you play. You're directing your activity toward a conclusion that isn't prescribed by a particular method.

In improvisation, there are no mistakes.

It's fun to be loose. Just like on stage, all of your great ideas come from looseness.

Art is the act of navigating without a map.

You can't make a mistake when you improvise.

I never work out my leads. Everything I do is usually totally spontaneous. If someone says, 'That was good; play that again,' I'm not able to do it.

I like to improvise.

Some people wish above all to conform to the rules, I wish only to render what I can hear. There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law.